Killing Lincoln

Opening words

The first sentence of the book appears on page one in a "Note to Readers" by O'Reilly: The story you are about to read is true and truly shocking.

Reception

As of 14 November 2011, Killing Lincoln was among Amazon's best sellers and at number two on the New York Times list of best-selling non-fiction. It also held the number one spot on the New York Times E-Book Nonfiction list for multiple weeks. In late October 2011, the publisher, Henry Holt and Co., stated that Killing Lincoln had sold nearly a million copies. On the November 14, 2011 edition of The O'Reilly Factor, O'Reilly told his television audience that "there are now more than 1 million copies of Killing Lincoln in print, and the book continues to sell briskly." By December 2012, the New York Times reported the book had been on their best-seller list for more than 65 weeks.

Criticism

During the book's initial release, Rae Emerson, the deputy superintendent of Ford's Theatre National Historic Site, conducted a review of the book's text and discovered a number of inaccuracies, which she described as "factual errors" and listed as numbering ten, each different and one additionally occurring multiple times. As a result of the review, the National Park Service, which manages Ford's Theatre, made the decision not to allow the edition of the book containing the errors to be sold at the Eastern National Bookstore located in the Museum at Ford’s Theatre National Historic Site, although it is sold in a gift shop in the lobby that is operated independently by the Ford’s Theatre Society. Historian Edward Steers has also criticized the book in a review for various inaccuracies and for lending support to conspiracy theories.

In response to Emerson's review, O'Reilly said that the mistakes, which he numbered less than her findings at just "four minor misstatements" and "two typeset errors" and had been corrected in subsequent printings. O'Reilly called the controversy "a concerted effort by people who don’t like me to diminish the book," said that Killing Lincoln was "honest," and wished all students would read it.

Television adaptation

O'Reilly told USA Today in a phone interview published in the September 29, 2011 issue that he talked with producers ("big hitters") about turning the book into a cable television special.

Tony Scott was working on adapting the book for the National Geographic Channel when he committed suicide on August 19, 2012. Production had already begun in Richmond, Virginia. In the film Virginia Repertory Theatre's November Theatre represented Fords Theatre. The film aired on National Geographic Channel in February 17, 2013 hosted and narrated by Tom Hanks. The docudrama was aired in memorial tribute to Tony Scott. The television movie averaged 3.4 million viewers, scoring about 1 million viewers in the 25-54 demographic. It was National Geographic's highest-rated television airing surpassing Inside 9/11, which drew 3 million in August 2005. The record was broken by Killing Kennedy, which drew in 3,354,000 viewers while Lincoln took 3,351,000.